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Why Do we Study Politics?. what's this all about?. To build a body of knowledge. What does it mean to Know Something?. Explain, Describe, Predict and Control What are the sources of knowledge? direct observation reason authority. direct observations.
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Why Do we Study Politics? what's this all about?
What does it mean to Know Something? • Explain, Describe, Predict and Control • What are the sources of knowledge? • direct observation • reason • authority
direct observations • observe a sequence of events and see if it recurs in more than one instance. • law of gravity explains a lot, we have seen it happen often • Replicated events
Reason • Even if we haven’t seen a particular thing happen before (observation) it is logical that things will happen in a certain way
Authority • How do we know that Madison and the boys did their thing in 1787? • How do you know that we landed on the moon in 1968?
Which are the most reliable? • observation • reason • authority
Why do we study politics • build body of knoweldge about the poltical world • explain, describe, predict, control
explain describe predict control Why do we study politics?